Once More, White Wins Gold at Winter X Games

By JOHN BRANCH

January 27, 2013

ASPEN, Colo. — The snowboarder Shaun White won his sixth straight halfpipe gold medal at the Winter X Games on Sunday with a score of 98 out of 100, including one trick that topped out at a record 24 feet above the edge of the 22-foot halfpipe. His second-best run of 95 was the competition’s second-best score.

“It was an amazing start to a great run,” White said of the 24-foot “backside method” trick that opened his winning routine.

Ayumu Hirano, a 14-year-old from Japan, won silver with a score of 92.33. Markus Malin of Finland (91.33) was third.

The field was diminished after Iouri Podladtchikov of Switzerland, a two-time silver medalist at the Winter X Games who was considered White’s biggest rival in the event, withdrew with an illness. Matt Ladley, the fifth-rated qualifier, was injured in practice when his binding released, sending him into the crowd on the deck of the halfpipe.

Earlier Sunday, Tucker Hibbert became the first Winter X Games athlete to win six consecutive gold medals in one event when he was the winner in the snowmobile snocross.

Nick Goepper soaring through the air on his way to winning the gold medal in the Winter X Games’ men’s slopestyle final.

Doug Pensinger / Getty Images

White, 26, has won every X Games halfpipe competition since 2008. He also won gold at the 2006 Winter X Games and at the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics.

White finished fifth in Saturday’s slopestyle, an event he dominated before focusing on the halfpipe leading to the 2010 Vancouver Games. Beyond winning the halfpipe, White has set a goal of winning the Olympic slopestyle event when it makes its debut in Sochi, Russia, at the 2014 Games.

“I’m going to go practice some slopestyle,” White said of his near-future plans.

This year’s four-day Winter X Games proved to be a dangerous affair. Among injuries to several athletes whisked in ambulances to the hospital, including two women during Sunday’s ski slopestyle event, the one to the snowmobiler Caleb Moore was the most serious.

Moore crashed Thursday while landing on a back flip, and his 500-pound snowmobile bounced on top of him. Momentarily knocked unconscious and later found to have a concussion, he was flown to a hospital in Grand Junction, Colo., after doctors in Aspen diagnosed a heart contusion. He had emergency surgery and was placed in the intensive-care unit.

On Sunday, a family spokeswoman said Moore’s “cardiac injury has led to a secondary complication involving his brain.” She did not provide further details.

During Sunday night’s Big Air competition, a snowmobile sped away from its rider after a crash and zoomed into an area of spectators. There were no serious injuries.